Edifier W80NB ANC Headphones
Design & Fit
The Edifier W830NB’s are nice and understated, with a relatively low profile design. With only the Edifier logo on the side, they look very similar to something like the Sony WH-1000XM4’s, which are far more expensive headphones
The metal reinforced adjustable headband flexes well, with little creaking, and is suitable for a large range of head sizes. There’s nice soft padding on the top as well, covered in a PU leather.
The ear cups have a decent amount of tilt and swivel. The earpads themselves are wide, and firmer than I’ve seen on other budget headphones. This gave more than enough room for my ears to breath whilst wearing them. And despite that firmer foam they’re still comfortable to wear with glasses.
They also only weigh 267g. So all up this makes the Edifier W830NB’s not only light, but also comfortable, to wear.
So I really don’t have anything to complain about with these headphones, from a fit perspective.
On the move
For times when you want to travel with the Edifier W830NB’s, these do fold inwards and upwards which makes them easy to putting into a bag or case. Which you would, if these came with a case, but they don’t, and that’s a real shame. Even a soft pouch would have been better than nothing.
Connectivity
The Edifier W803NBN’s have the latest Bluetooth 5.4 and multi-point support, whilst also supporting SBC, AAC, and hi-res LDAC audio.
There’s even a game mode that reduces latency down to 80 milliseconds. It’s not the fastest out there, but it at least will help out when you’re doing some mobile gaming.
If you’d rather connect over a cable instead,there is no 3.5mm audio port on these. However you can listen to audio over a USB-C cable plugged into the USB-C Port on the headphones.
Battery Life
So the Edifier W830NB’s comes with a whopping 94 hours of battery life! That is with ANC off though.
If you turn ANC on that drops down to 54 hours. However that’s still better than a lot of other headphones are with ANC off. So the battery life on these is still huge, especially for budget headphones.
The Sound
Inside the Edifier W830NB’s are a pair of 40mm drivers delivering a fairly flat sound out-of-the-box, which given that Edifier headphones are typically very bass heavy, was a pleasant surprise. There is still some emphasis on the bass and treble, it’s just not over the top.
I would still recommend jumping into the Edifier mobile app and using either one of four EQ presets, or using the four-band custom parametric EQ for even more fine-tuning.
The parametric EQ gives you control over not only the intensity, or level, of any adjustment, but also the frequency it affects, and the breadth with which that adjustment is felt (it’s Q factor). It’s not often seen on budget headphones and is probably more control than most people need. Fortunately, you can just leave it at the default settings and just adjust the EQ levels. This still gives you a fair amount of control over the sound.
So these did sound better once tuned in. Vocals and instruments were clear, and the bass was clean and not overly excessive.
So if you are a Bass-head then you’re probably going to want to look somewhere else. Edifier’s own WH950NB’s are an absolute bass monster and certainly fit the bill there. They are more expensive though.
ANC
There’s two levels of ANC. High, and medium. There really is no need for the latter, you might as well just leave it on ‘High’.
The ANC itself is okay, if nothing exceptional. It blocks out a fair amount of lower frequencies but struggles with higher frequencies. So some sound does get through but loses it’s bassiness. For a pair of budget headphones they’re acceptable. It’s certainly better having it on than not if you’re in a noisy environment.
There is also a wind noise reduction mode as well which does a pretty good job of cutting out the sound of wind whistling past your ears on a windy day.
There’s also a transparency mode with seven different levels so you can choose how much noise you let into your headphones. The mode works well and when it’s enabled you can clearly hear your surroundings. It’s not a mode I use that often but it was more than good enough on these headphones.
The Mic
The mic on this was acceptable, if nothing esceptional. It’s ok for taking a call, but it’s certainly not a reason I’d buy these headphones.
Verdict
The Edifier W830NB’s are available in black, white, or grey, and retail for $80. However, they are often on sale for as little as $68 on websites like Amazon.
So, for the money, The Edifier W830NB’s are a pair of headphones that sound okay, are comfortable to wear, and have fantastic battery life. However, the sub-par mic, the average ANC, and not having a case might be a deal breaker for some.
The sub $100 ANC headphone market is very competitive though, with plenty of other choices out there. So I’d recommend checking out some of the other reviews here as well.